Little Red Riding Hood

She had baked chocolate cookies, and beaming with pride,
Little Red Riding Hood ventured outside.
She was wearing her red cap and her special blouse.
For today she was going to grandmother's house!
They would celebrate grandmother's birthday today.
And not even the hunter could keep her away.
The terrible hunter, who filled her with fear.
Who would shoot all the birds and the rabbits and deer.
The woods had been safe, they'd been happy and fun
'Til the day that the hunter showed up with his gun.
"I love the outdoors and the nature," he said.
But when he saw nature, he'd then shoot it dead!
And before long the joy in the woods changed to fear.
And the nature would flee when the hunter came near.
And since bullets who miss a young fawn can hit you,
All the people who lived in the woods were scared too!
Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother knew,
That the hunter was wrong, and he must be stopped too.
But alas! Killing animals was still allowed.
So last month her grandmother went into town.
"Oh we must stop this hunter," she'd said to the mayor,
"For while he's in the woods, no one else is safe there."
And the mayor agreed and was going to give in.
When suddenly our foe, the hunter, came in!
"Do not heed this old woman," the hunter exclaimed
"For her mind has grown weak and her body is lame.
"Without me, all the rabbits would soon multiply
"And would soon have no food, and eventually die."
"It is sad, but the rabbits I kill in turn give
"The rabbits whose lives I spare more space to live"
And grandmother replied, "How could he find it sad?"
"With those hunting parties and contests he's had?"
After that, the mayor did not know what to do.
And he shrugged and he frowned and he said to the two
"We will vote on this matter the end of the month."
"Until then the hunter can continue to hunt."
So grandmother, discouraged, went back to the woods,
Avoiding the bullets as best as she could.
That was one month ago, now it was her birthday
And Little Red Riding Hood would come today!
Little Red Riding Hood skipped and she hopped.
But when she heard a gun, to the ground she would drop.
She would lie there in fear for a moment and then
Skip continuously towards her grandmother's again.
Little Red Riding Hood skipped for awhile
When from nowhere, the hunter appeared with a smile.
His face was unshaven, his manner was rude,
He said: "My what a beauty, with all of that food!"
Red Riding Hood did not know who this man was.
But she answered politely: "I'm sorry, because
"This food I have made for my grandmother, Sir."
"I'm going to celebrate her birthday with her."
"Your grandmother?" he said (as his jaw slowly dropped)
"Is she not the one who wants hunting to stop?"
"Precisely!" Red Riding Hood answered with glee.
"And it will, thanks to something she'll soon give to me."
"That's wonderful news!" he exclaimed wickedly.
"I'm so happy, but say, what could this something be?"
"A marvelous project," Red Riding Hood said.
"How to give rabbits space without shooting them dead."
The hunter stayed calm (which for him was a chore).
And he said: "Tell me where this fine woman lives, for"
"I'd like to help out with her dreams and her plans"
"And her words have now made me her greatest of fans."
"I will tell you where she lives," she said, "listen good."
"Go over the river, and then through the woods,"
"You must walk quite awhile, but don't fret and don't grouse."
"For you'll finally end up at grandmother's house."
The hunter left quickly. No thanks did he give.
And he ran to the house where poor grandmother lived.
He burst through the door with his terrible gun.
And he said "Now I've got you! Yes now I have won!"
Poor grandmother shrieked: what a terrible plight!
And she kicked and she screamed and she put up a fight.
But the hunter subdued her and locked her away.
What a hideous fate for grandmother's birthday!
The hunter screamed: "Silence, else you are dead!"
And he dressed up as grandma and went in her bed.
With her bonnet and glasses, he thought with a grin
"I know that Red Riding Hood soon will come in."
And she did! She was skipping and singing away.
She burst in: "Hello grandmother! Happy birthday!"
"I've baked you some treats, chocolate cookies you see."
And the hunter said: "Come my child, sit next to me."
Red Riding Hood did so, but then raised her brow.
For she found that grandmother was different somehow.
Could it be her glasses? The way she was clad?
Then she noticed: "Grandmother, what big eyes you have!"
The hunter stayed calm. He had nothing to fear.
He replied: "All the better to see you, my dear."
But she wasn't convinced. Grandma looked very bad.
Then she saw it: "Grandma, what a big nose you have!"
A very slight frown on his face then appeared
As he said: "All the better to smell you, my dear."
And Little Red Riding Hood thought "Am I mad?"
Then she spied it: "Grandma, what a big mouth you have!"
The hunter got angry. This game wasn't fun.
And he jumped out of bed and he brandished his gun.
And he said "That's enough now! I've had it with you!"
"I'm rid of your grandma. Now I'll get you too!"
She shrieked and her basket fell down to the ground.
She ran from the hunter, who chased her around.
And the hunter subdued her and surely would win,
But to his great amazement, the mayor came in!
"We've got you now hunter! You won't get away."
"It is my great pride to arrest you today."
"You've killed more than rabbits: You've killed birds and deer."
"And the nature has suffered since you have come here."
"Where hunting's illegal, you didn't care less."
"And we've heard reports of your journeys of death.
"Where you broke into places you weren't allowed.
"And killed all the animals, hunting them down."
The hunter yelled out and he tried to escape.
But then fifteen police people took him away.
They freed the grandmother and then calmed her down.
And Red Riding Hood smiled, but the mayor then frowned.
He said: "I am happy that he's in his place.
"But afraid that the rabbits don't have enough place.
"I'm scared that the rabbits will still multiply.
"And will soon have no food, and eventually die."
But Red Riding Hood's grandmother quickly exclaimed.
"Fear not my dear mayor, for I have a way
"To lessen their numbers, yet keep them alive:
"We must make it so some of them can't multiply."
"So they can't multiply?" cried out Red Riding Hood.
"Why that goes against nature! That cannot be good!"
But grandmother replied with the utmost of tact
"It is against nature, but let's face the facts."
"We've unbalanced nature for thousands of years
"And if nature could speak, it would burst out in tears.
"All the forests destroyed. All the topsoil we've lost.
"All the species wiped out: this is what progress cost."
"And now there's no perfect solution or plan.
"So all we can do is the best that we can.
"In this way the rabbits do not have to die.
"A small price to pay so that they stay alive."
Red Riding Hood smiled, and she nodded her head.
"I'd rather some surgery than be shot dead."
And the mayor and all the townspeople agreed.
And the rabbits were happy. The forest was free!